There seems to be an on-going debate on the fairness of competition when you have foreigners competing in the event. To be honest, I do have two sets of thoughts in this. 1. We need to look into some of the nation top runners perspective. 2. In the context of competition, an event bringing in the best runners around the world would be great to improve the country's sporting standards.
This is what I got from Wikipedia when looking for the definition of "level playing field"....
A level playing field is a concept about fairness, not that each player has an equal chance to succeed, but that they all play by the same set of rules. A metaphorical playing fields is said to be level if no external interference affects the ability of the players to compete fairly.....
Local and foreign runners running in Malaysia have been debating on this issue for a long time and to the extent that some of the event organisers do take side of the national runners (normally applies to certain organisers only). So does this imply fairness? Fairness to whom?
When I was actively competing, especially in the junior years (school) or early part of my senior years (am not veteran yet, senior as in Open category), the less competition I have or the better I am, the chances of me winning will be better. Of course when I say winning here doesn't mean to finish in the no. 1 position. It could be a podium finish or even a placing that will earn me a small token of prize money/goodies. So I can understand when some of the top runners in the country are actually complaining to the organisers that bringing in the top runners is not a good idea and they should do something to protect the top national runners who are looking to have "less competition". I definitely foresee that this came from only a certain group of runners. No offence intended, but we also need to understand that majority of the top runners are from an average income or lower income group who looks for opportunities to earn "side income" from these races. When top foreign runners come in, their "side income" are affected. For this, we need to understand from their perspective too. A lot of them are not sponsored or have any financial backing. Most of these top runners, will just put on their running shoe and gears (could be used for many years if not sponsored). Unlike some of us, who are earning comfortably above average who can afford good shoes, apparels and gears - changed frequently or expensive ones if I may add to it, e.g. GPS watches, compression tights, hi-tech shoes, etc. Just a facts of life, if we can afford it, we buy it. Unless the complaints in banning foreign runners are from those above average income earners, they should knock some senses into their own head.
Of late, we see a lot of road races nationwide dominated by these Kenyan runners (I guess this was source of how this whole issue of foreign runners become a debate). Before that, normally you will see couple of mat salleh in the podiums but no one even complained. This is also something you must understand from the top running nation, notably from Kenya. They too, are like some of our top runners. They too are looking for opportunities to earn money. If you read the book "Running with The Kenyans - by Adharanand Finn", you will understand what money meant to them or how running has changed their life. And in a running nation like Kenya, to even get into a podium or even the national team is so hard that a lot of these runners migrated, or competing overseas in search for a greener pastures. Some countries even offered them residency so that they can compete as their national. Life is hard for them just as it is hard for some of our top runners.
I learnt from Chan Yew, that in The States, they all had to compete with the top runners in all their races, not just nationally but internationally even at their collegiate level. The runners from the States did not complained about it but rather took into their stride to improve themselves and actually believed that they can compete against the best in the world. We have seen the results when some of runners from Europe or the US upstaging some of the big names in middle or long distance events.
For me, I think that should be the way, if each one of us wants to improve ourselves - competing against the best. Looking back in my running CV, my timing usually improve when competing against the best (and of course proper training), although I was not in the top position. If I was able to beat some of them, I would feel very proud of myself. But of course, I do think that I do earn an income above the average, so "winning" may not be a priority. However, when each one of us are racing, we are always looking to pass the runners in front of you. Therefore, top national runners should embrace the competition and look into ways of improving themselves rather than complaining to the organisers in banning foreign runners. No. 1 They won't improve themselves if they keep competing against local runners who are still far from world class and No. 2 Banning foreign runners from competing will not work well with our sports tourism especially if we want to make our country a top sporting destination.
What some of the organisers can do (those which can afford cash prizes), they may look into offering prizes in two different categories, international and national, which is what some of the big races do, i.e. Standard Chartered Singapore/KL Marathon. This may not be feasible for smaller organisers, but they can look into offering hotel stays, trips, electrical products and many more as prizes, sponsored products other than cash.
I am perplexed on why some of the nation's charity runs are offering cash prizes when the money they collected should be channelled into the charity organisations they are supporting. Offering sponsored products and medal should be sufficient for these events. In the recent charity run event, having foreign runners became an issue too.
Organiser should also look into how they want to present themselves in the eyes of the public, therefore, making a decision to ban foreign runners to compete may have a detrimental effect to their own image or of the nation.
Organiser should also look into how they want to present themselves in the eyes of the public, therefore, making a decision to ban foreign runners to compete may have a detrimental effect to their own image or of the nation.
I don't think I can end this debate with what I am presenting here as everyone has their own perspective in how they view this. But what I think everyone should not do, is just jump into conclusion and blast each others opinions without understanding the whole situation.
To improve you got to compete against the best and not just becoming a "jaguh kampung" which literally means "village champion'. It means the kind of person who can only succeed in that one place, in their comfort zone; meaning the kind of person who will never succeed outside of the confines of the village borders. After all, competing in a running event is the perfect level playing field (except for drug enhanced performances of course) where all are playing by the same set of rules, competing in the same terrain and the best man wins!
